Hi all,
The issue:
I'm trying to install any distro of Linux on my relatively new ASUS M51-Se AS018C (came out 2008-05). I've tried the latest versions of SUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu - they all fail to install or run completely because X cannot be initiated or configured. This is my first time trying to install Linux; I've tried my best and I need help.
Where I get to:
I've stuck to trying SUSE 11.0 at the moment. I can do the install in text-only mode, but at some point after installing the bare necessities to get to runlevel 3 (console-like mode, no graphics), it tries to call X somehow and crashes and restarts. I can then boot into runlevel 3 and login as root and do things, use
links to get on the net in text-only mode, read my other hard drive partitions...
Hardware Problem:
There is a known problem with these ASUS models because the ATI drivers for the graphics card are not included in any linux distro. I've looked on the forums for several flavours of Linux and spent days trying the fixes listed there (see below) - no success. I hate Windows and I really, really want to get Linux running. Please help.
Relevant Hardware - 3GB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470
Display - 15.4" WXGA+, 1440x900 max res
Other specs - Intel C2D T8300, Intel PM965 Express Chipset +ICH8M
What I have tried:
1 - limiting memory to 2900M during installation: no difference.
2 - In YaST (the Suse package manager) during install, trying to download the ATI/fglrx driver package x11-video-fglrx. This is not allowed as the necessary modules (something like kernel-kmp-xxx) "cannot" be obtained from the installation DVD, or the ATI repository; I have however installed the kernel-source package already.
3 - Following the instructions at opensuse.org/ATI
After "installation", downloading packages I've been told to get - opensuse.org/ATI#The_Hard_Way - then downloading the latest ATI drivers (currently ati-driver-installer-8-10-x86.x86_64.run), then either creating my SUSE110-AMD64 specific RPM and running
or
Code:
rpm -Uh --force <my-RPM>
: These seem to work, and the fglrx-install.log file shows no big errors. I goto lib/modules/fglrx and run make_install.sh, I run aticonfig (it doesn't tell me anything but it doesn't hang), and I remake the kernel with fglrx-kernel-build.sh, and I reboot... no change.
Just running the ATI installer and choosing 'Option 1: Install Driver Automatically' gives me an error message 80% the way through, saying I already have a ati-fglrx.so file in
/usr/X11R6/lib64/modules/dri/
whether I do OR when I don't (after removing it)
and then aborts the install.
I don't really know what's going on. Perhaps because I've tried to install these drivers so many times I've stuffed something up; or perhaps I've overlooked some package I should have gotten. Can anyone tell me where to look to identify my problem, or if anyone at all has installed Linux on their ASUS M51 series, please tell me HOW! I've spent ages on this... a big learning experience, but it would be more fun to learn about Linux once it was actually working, rather than by trying to install it.
I would happily once more wipe out completely what I've installed and do a clean install if only I could be sure of getting it right.
Thanks very much,
Ollie